Chapter 50 DEATH SENTENCE

Chapter 50 DEATH SENTENCE
CHAPTER 50. DEATH SENTENCE

IRIS'S POV

I’ve had enough of the fear. I am losing myself in the fire, and I am never going back.

I am holding on to Kaelen as if he is the only pocket of air left in a sinking world, desperate and unyielding. He makes absolutely no effort to break the connection. Instead, he matches my desperation, pulling me flush against his frame, holding me as though he can't breathe either. I am savoring every single inch of this priceless, intoxicating attention, letting the heat of his presence drown out the cold terror that has chased me across the academy grounds.

I creep closer against his solid mass, anchoring my fingers into his jacket, holding him tight like I am freaking losing my mind. Our lips dance together in flawless synchronization, a chaotic yet perfectly balanced rhythm that defies any human logic. His large hands are locked firmly against my waist, their raw strength anchoring me, pressing my hips directly against his own. The world around us dissolves into a blur of shadows and heat.

Before long, the sharp, friction-filled voice of Ciara breaks through the fog from the background. At first, her words sound like distant, watery murmurs, but they quickly grow louder, cutting through my hyper-enhanced senses.

"Okay, what the hell? Don't you both possess some manner of basic decency?" she snaps. Her voice is a loud, grating intrusion in our private sanctuary.

Through my blurred vision, I watch her dark robes swirl as she moves, boldly stepping directly into the tight space between the two of us. "You guys should quit this right now. This is completely absurd! What the hell is wrong with you both?" she shouts out loud.

Using her supernatural strength, she wedges her hands between our chests and shoves outward to separate us. The wet, smacking sound of our lips disconnecting echoes sharply in the quiet, narrow corridor.

I stumble backward for a brief moment, my sneakers skidding against the cobblestones as the sudden loss of his touch leaves my skin tingling with a cold, hollow ache. I look up at Kaelen, my chest heaving as I pant for air. He is staring right back at me, his eyes glowing a fierce, predatory gold that burns through the darkness. A deep frown pinches his forehead. His large hands twitch at his sides, visibly reluctant to let me go, his fingers tracing the empty air where my waist had been just a second ago.

Ciara uses every ounce of her tensed strength to maintain her position, standing like a wall of dark fabric directly between the two of us. Her head darts from left to right, her gaze snapping between my flushed face and Kaelen’s volatile expression.

"Are both of you completely crazy? What the hell is the actual meaning of this? What the fuck do you think you're doing?" she exclaims, her chest heaving with a frantic, stressed energy. "The ritual is literally about to take place on the sacred grounds, and the high Council expects us to be at the gates. And yet, here you both are, hiding in an alleyway doing what?" She throws her hands up, her voice echoing off the brickwork. "What is fundamentally wrong with you both?"

I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. The logical, rational part of my brain has completely shattered, leaving behind a primal void I cannot control. Something is cosmically, irreversibly wrong with my body. I am looking past Ciara’s shoulder, my eyes locking onto Kaelen as if he is a giant, life-saving glass of water, and I am a traveler dying of absolute thirst in the middle of a desert. The pull is a physical, agonizing shackle. I can't help it.

Ciara shifts her weight, intentionally obstructing Kaelen from my line of sight. She stares down at me, her violet eyes wide with a mixture of awe and deep suspicion. "What the hell are you, Iris?" she asks, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper.

But I'm not even listening to her warnings. The hunger in my blood screams louder than her voice. Moving on pure, unadulterated instinct, I place my hand firmly against her cloaked shoulder, my claws digging lightly into the fabric as I attempt to forcefully shove her out of my way.

"Okay, I am absolutely not having this," Ciara snaps, her features hardening.

She catches my wrist, her cold fingers locking around my arm as she begins to physically drag my weight away from the hidden space, forcing me toward the main path. Suddenly, a sharp, guttural growl rips through the corridor—a sound so primal and heavy it makes the stone floorboards vibrate. Ciara freezes instantly, her muscles locking in terror.

I turn my head, my eyes widening as I realize Kaelen has moved with a blur of alpha speed. His large, clawed hand has clamped firmly around her other wrist. With a brutal, effortless twist of his arm, he yanks her back, separating her from my frame instantly. Then, with a dismissive flick of his wrist, he pushes her aside against the masonry like she means absolutely nothing to his beast.

Ciara staggers backward, her boots scraping roughly against the cobblestones as she catches her balance against the brick wall. She looks up, her vibrant violet eyes glowing in the dark as she stares at him in complete disbelief, as if she cannot recognize the volatile entity standing in front of her right now.

Kaelen completely ignores her, closing the distance back toward my position. He reaches out, his warm, broad fingers wrapping securely around my hand. I look up into his face, the ambient light sculpting his lethal jawline. God, I am entirely powerless against whatever transformation is taking possession of my soul. I lunge forward, my fingers grabbing the fabric of his clothing, pulling his massive chest flush against mine once more.

"What's wrong with me?" I find myself whispering, my voice breaking into a breathless, desperate plea as I tilt my chin up, our lips locking together in another frantic, bruising collision.

He lets out a low, gravelly chuckle against my mouth, his arms winding around my waist to hoist my weight against his frame. "Oh, trust me, baby girl... I have absolutely no freaking idea," he whispers back, his thumbs caressing my neck. "Assuming I actually knew what kind of supernatural race you belonged to, this entire situation would have been a hell of a lot easier to handle."

A short distance away, Ciara stands frozen against the wall, watching the two of us with an expression of pure, unadulterated horror, looking at us as if we have both completely lost our minds.

All of a sudden, the air in the narrow corridor turns to liquid lead.

A booming, crushing presence erupts within the small space, hitting our systems with the physical force of a tidal wave. The ambient heat vanishes, replaced by a suffocating, icy gravity that makes each and every one of us freeze on pure, primal instinct. My breath hitches in my throat, my lungs locking as a crushing pressure settles over my shoulders—an invisible, massive wall keeping my limbs completely bound to the spot.

"What exactly is going on in here?"

The voice is unmistakable. It is a deep, ancient thunderclap that carries the absolute authority of the throne. It is Elder Cyphros.

Each and every one of us slowly, stiffly turns our heads toward the narrow entrance of the hidden space. Standing at the threshold, his massive silhouette blotting out the external moonlight, is the high leader of the Council. Flanking him on either side are the other robed Elders, their expressions etched with severe, highly skeptical looks. They stand in a semi-circle, their ancient eyes glaring into the darkness, observing the scenario playing out in front of them with a deep, dangerous confusion.

"What are you guys doing here?" Elder Cyphros demands a second time, his voice dropping to a low growl that makes the cobblestones rattle.

I don't know why, but a sudden, unyielding compulsion washes over my consciousness. I feel a profound, genetic need to listen to his voice—an absolute instinct to obey his command. All of a sudden, the magnetic pull between Kaelen and me is violently severed by the Elder's aura. We instantly separate from each other, our hands dropping to our sides as we step back.

I turn toward the leader of the Council, and before my human mind can even process the movement, both Kaelen and I immediately bow our heads in deep, instinctual reverence. Kaelen’s brow pinches into a heavy frown as he straightens up, his golden eyes turning to look down at me with a flash of pure surprise. He didn't expect my body to respond to an alpha command.

I slowly stand back upright, forcing my tensed muscles to lock as I lift my chin, looking Elder Cyphros straight in his magma-like eyes.

The moment our gazes connect, I notice a sudden, drastic shift in his demeanor. The ancient wolf freezes. His heavy eyebrows knit together, his fur-lined eyelids squinting into thin, dangerous slits as he stares down at my features with a single, raised eyebrow. The skepticism on his face mutates into a calculating bewilderment.

He takes a slow, heavy step closer, his boots snapping against the rock, his burning eyes never once leaving my face. My heart races like a frantic engine as he closes the distance. The crushing, suffocating pressure of his aura expands with every inch he gains, making the air feel entirely too thick to breathe, choking the life from my throat. I stand rooted to the stone, my hands clenching into fists as he halts just a few feet away from my chest.

He leans in slightly, his nostrils flaring as he catches the scent radiating from my crimson hair, a slight, deep frown marring the skin between his eyes. He looks at me as if he is staring at a ghost rising from the grave.

He slowly turns his head, his gaze sweeping across Kaelen’s tensed posture, then tracking over to Ciara’s trembling form, before snapping back to lock onto my wide eyes.

"Can someone care to explain what the hell I am looking at here right now?" he requests, hi
s voice dropping to a whisper that holds the weight of a death sentence.